On Tuesday, 30th March, the head of Liberty Steel and British Indian billionaire admitted for the first time that his company was “many billions” of pounds in debt as he addressed reports around the collapse of Greensill Capital.
Sanjeev Gupta has however, has insisted that his company “did not break any rules” as he confirmed that the government had stripped Greensill of guarantees for hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayer loans made to his GFG during the pandemic. However, Gupta said Greensill had taken “extensive legal advice” on the application for the state-backed coronavirus lending scheme and had “followed all the rules”.
Liberty, which employs thousands of people, is reportedly at risk of insolvency. According to The Times, GFG, which employs about 5,000 people in Britain, requested the government for an emergency loan but the appeal for £170 million government bailout was eventually rejected. Ministers are now preparing to try to protect jobs should Gupta’s businesses fall into administration. Gupta said that he had launched a programme to conserve cash at his steel operations.
Liberty is not only Britain’s main producer of so-called green steel — critical for meeting the net zero carbon target — but also a significant employer. About 3,000 people work at its electric arc furnace operations, which create steel from recycled products. GFG has a further 2,000 British staff working in the aluminium and renewable energy sectors. Liberty also has substantial operations in Scotland.
Gupta, 49, built up his sprawling business interests through acquisitions. His group’s growth was largely funded by Greensill, a supply-chain finance company founded by Lex Greensill, an Australian investment banker who grew up on a watermelon and sugar cane farm.
